Occupation, Class, and Social Networks in Urban China
China's class structure is changing dramatically in the wake of post-1978 market-oriented economic reforms. The creation of a mixed "market-socialist" economy has eroded the institutional bases of a cadre-dominated social hierarchy and created conditions for a new pattern of social st...
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Published in | Social forces Vol. 83; no. 4; pp. 1443 - 1468 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Chapel Hill, NC
The University of North Carolina Press
01.06.2005
University of North Carolina Press Oxford University Press |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | China's class structure is changing dramatically in the wake of post-1978 market-oriented economic reforms. The creation of a mixed "market-socialist" economy has eroded the institutional bases of a cadre-dominated social hierarchy and created conditions for a new pattern of social stratification. Although conditions remain dynamic, results of a 1998 urban survey that measured strength and diversity of social ties among 400 households in four of China's largest cities documented networks of social exchange among 13 occupation-based classes that identify a class structure distinct from the cadre-dominated social hierarchy of the Mao era. In particular, analysis of visiting during the Lunar New Year celebration suggests an urban society simultaneously divided along two axes: one by economic success in the more privatized economy and one by distinctions in political authority at the workplace. Thus contrary to those who privilege market transactions as the primary engine for creating a new class hierarchy, we conclude that to understand processes of social stratification one needs theories and methods that work simultaneously with multiple dynamics of class differentiation rather than presuming linear hierarchy. |
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Bibliography: | Earlier versions of this article were presented at the Sunbelt International Conference on Social Network Analysis, Cancun, Mexico, February 12–16, 2003; the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, Atlanta, August 15–19, 2003; and the conference “Current Situations in China,” in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Universities Service Center, Chinese University of Hong Kong, January 5–7, 2004. istex:5C77C684DF9365C697C63AE00510EA7F35871914 ark:/67375/HXZ-XDGCWVT7-0 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 |
ISSN: | 0037-7732 1534-7605 |
DOI: | 10.1353/sof.2005.0053 |